Ninjerella
by IHaveNoLife17
Summary: Cole is treated as a servant by his step-family, but with the royal twins' ball coming up things are looking up. When his step-sister ruins things for him he has to get some help from Nya and Jay. (AU Cinderella, sorta.) One-shot.


"Cole, get in here right now!" Sandy's harsh voice pierced the air.

"Coming!" Cole shouted back. He deliberately walked slowly through the hallways. When he got there, Sandy growled, "What took you so long?!"

"I got lost," he lied. His alibi was believable because the house was enormous and Sandy was an idiot.

"Why'd you call me?" Cole asked her.

"My hairbrush is in the bathroom. Go!" she pointed out the door, towards the bathroom.

"Go use the bathroom?"

Zane laughed a bit as he passed by the door, probably running an errand for Sandy's little sister Sophia.

"No! Get my hairbrush and brush my hair," Sandy said, frustrated by her step-brother's attempt at humor. Cole slowly walked towards the bathroom.

"Faster!"

Shut up! he wanted to yell, but instead he picked up his pace. In the bathroom he took a long look at his reflection and decided he hated the dirty-faced young man staring back at him. He promised himself that some day he'd be more than just a servant, more than just a slave in what used to be his own house.

"Cole!"

He grabbed the hairbrush and dashed out. He brushed Sandy's brown hair until it looked like someone had rubbed it with a ballon. He grinned at his small act of revenge. When he went back to his room a few minutes later, he heard Sandy yell his name and laughed.

Later in his room, he tried to figure out how the heck he'd accomplish his goal. At first, the only thing he could think of was to run away, but after thinking a little he realized he'd be better off staying with his step-family, even though on some days he only got one meal or only whatever's left on his step-family's plates. Then he thought of another thing, something that could probably never succeed. Next month the royal twins, Prince Lloyd and Princess Elisabeth (who everyone called Liz or Lizzy) were having a ball to find a lover for them. It was open to the peasants and lords of this kingdom alike, and whichever twin found a suitable husband or wife could rule the kingdom. The midwife who delivered the twins was old and her bad memory meant she couldn't remember who was older.

I've never seen the princess, Cole thought, I hope she's nice.

Only a few miles away, Liz was suppose to be picking out which of her gowns she'd be wearing for the masquerade ball, even though it was a month away. She'd just chosen the first black dress she saw, because 1) black was her favorite color and 2) she knew her mother wouldn't like it ("Do you want to look emo?!"). Now she was sneaking out the window to run around and do all the other things princesses were taught not to do, with Skylor in the dark. (Skylor had been hired as her servant, but they were actually best friends.) How was she to know her brother had the same idea or that he was already outside with his own servant Elliott?

"You shouldn't be out here," Lloyd scolded.

In the moonlight Liz could just make out her twin's outfit. "Neither should you. You didn't even change, dummy, Mom won't like it if you get your suit dirty."

"Compared to you wearing your pajamas?" Elliot smirked.

Liz blushed. She did look pretty silly wearing her blue nightgown and sneakers.

"Look, it's a shooting star! Make a wish!" Skylor suddenly shouted, effectively distracting the boys from Liz.

"I wish my sister wasn't such a tattle tale and won't get us all in trouble," Lloyd said.

"Doesn't work if we know about it." And Liz wished silently to find true love at the ball.

'I wish to get the heck out of here and live a better life!' Cole thought, seeing the same star out of the attic's single window. He yawned and climbed in his bed.

Cole woke up with a plan.

"You know the routine, take the money, buy a loaf of bread," his step-father, Garmadon, instructed him like he did every week. He went to the market and returned empty-handed.

"What are you playing at, trying to starve us or something?!" Garmadon roared.

"Th-the c-coins you g-gave me aren't enough. They raised the price and it's 10 coins short," Cole replied, faking fear. Garmadon trusted him, seeing as Cole had never lied to him (and been caught). He calmed down and gave him the money, muttering about how one day he'd go broke buying food.

Cole went back to the market and bought the bread, pocketing several coins in change. Just as he was leaving he bumped into a girl his age and she dropped a sack which scrolls fell out off.

"Sorry!" said Cole, bending down to help her.

"No, it was my fault. Don't apologize," the princess had said. When all of the scrolls were either in the sack or in Cole's arms, he handed them to her and left. Cole thought nothing of it, but Liz couldn't get him off her mind. Though he was dirty, his brown eyes were kind and she hoped to see him at the ball.

Cole continued with the trick about the bread price, and two days before the ball he had 40 coins, just enough to buy a decent tux and maybe a mask. Unfortunately, it was all in vain; Garmadon lost a bet he couldn't pay and forced both his cook, Zane, and Cole to give up all their money. Cole saved 5 coins and bought the mask the following night. The ball accepted peasants; he still planned on going.

The day of the ball, Cole was really busy helping his step sisters get ready. Both hoped Prince Lloyd would fall in love with them, but Cole just rolled his eyes at the thought. He couldn't imagine a prince falling in love with Sophia's clumsy nature or Sandy's rude personality. When Garmadon finally announced they were leaving, Cole was relieved. He started towards the stairs to grab his mask and leave a little after them, but suddenly he heard Sandy shout, "Daddy, look at this cool mask I found!" He turned around to see her remove her mask and replace it with his. 'That was hidden in my room! How'd she find it?!' As soon as they left he went up to his room and paced, trying to figure out what to do. The mask Sandy had left was way too girly, no way he was wearing it, but if he went without a mask his step-family might see him and inevitably recognize him. He finally gave up and climbed in his bed.

He was just drifting off to sleep when a hand touched his shoulder. "Get up. We're going to help you get to the ball," a female voice whispered. Cole sat up and stared at the speaker. She had short, black hair, dark brown eyes, and butterfly-like scarlet wings. She looked to be 3 or 4 years older than him. Her dress wasn't anything special, just a knee-length sundress that matched her wings in color but looked plain in comparison.

"Who are you?" he asked, eyes wide with both curiosity and shock.

"I'm your fairy godmother. My name's Nya and-" she paused, looking out the window, and shouted, "Jay! There's not that big of a difference between fairy godparents and guardian angels, so get your butt in here!"

"Yeah, there is! You've got bug wings and I've got bird wings," a boy's voice retorted from beyond Cole's window. Cole tried to see who, but he couldn't look out the window from his spot on his bed.

Nya rolled her eyes.

"Have you known each other long?" Cole asked.

"Only a few days. He wants to be a guardian angel, so he tried to get apprenticed to one. There weren't any available so they put him with me. Seriously, quit hovering out there before someone sees you!"

"Fine." A boy who looked a year or two younger than Cole flew in through the window and shut it behind him. He had reddish brown hair, bright blue eyes, and feathered wings that matched the exact shade of his eyes. The wings seemed big enough to support his weight when flying, but if he had stretched his arms out the tips would only have reached his elbows. He had on a blue windbreaker over a T-shirt and jeans.

"Guardian angel?" Cole asked, "Is there anyone in particular you wanna protect?"

"My parents. One of their machines is bound to blow up eventually, and I wanna be there to save them when it does."

"That's so sweet," Nya commented.

Jay blushed slightly, "Just work your magic so we can go. Wait, someone's coming!" he disappeared into thin air.

Someone knocked on the door. There was no lock, so they could walk in at any time. Cole lied back down to pretend he was going to bed, and Nya disappeared with a flash of glittering red light.

"Are you alright, Cole?" Zane's voice asked from the other side, "You appeared upset when Miss Cassandra found that mask."

"I'm fine. I'm just going on to bed so I won't be awake to hear Sandy's temper tantrum over the prince."

"It might be wise for me to do so as well. Good night."

Jay reappeared first, then Nya.

"Do you have anything I can transform? I can't produce things from thin air."

Cole got off his bed and reached under it. He found a dusty toy truck of his from years ago and caught a random brown mouse. "Could these work?" he said as he stood up, holding one in each hand.

Nya nodded. "Let's do this outside." And somehow Cole was in his backyard with the fairy. Jay appeared a second later.

"You didn't warn me that time."

Nya ignored him and instead told Cole to put the things from under his bed down in the grass. She pointed her finger at the mouse, and a red light coming from her finger hit the mouse before it could run away. A skinny man with a brown goatee now stood where the mouse had been.

"It's naked! I'm scarred for life!"

"Shut up, Jay!" another red light came from her finger and hit the man, who instantly was wearing a black tuxedo.

She picked up the toy truck and took it to the front yard, Cole, Jay and the mouse-man following. She told Jay to warn her if any cars come and looked both ways before placing the toy in the middle of the lane closest to them. Yet another light came from her finger and the toy car transformed into a limo. The mouse-man walked over to the driver's door, jumped in the front seat, and buckled his seatbelt.

"What about me?" Cole asked.

Nya silently pointed at him and another scarlet light turned his dirty sweatshirt and worn out jeans turned into a tuxedo very similar to the mouse-man's, as well as Cole feeling something appear on his face. He checked his reflection in a puddle and found that his hair looked neater than it had in a long time, and he had on a simple, dark grey mask that stopped below his nose.

"Uh, it can drive, right?"

"Hopefully. If not, I'll be your guardian angel."

"Jay, people don't normally have both a fairy godparent and a guardian angel," Nya said gently.

"I'd be here anyway. Why can't I do something fun?"

"You think flying after a limo and risking a gigantic chance of being seen is fun?"

"No, I could be in there with him. Don't argue with me; the ball starts soon and Cole's running out of time."

"Just go."

Cole and Jay got in the limo. "This is pretty sweet! Oh, yeah, most of Nya's spells reverse themselves at midnight; I don't think she mentioned that, did she?"

"No. Think you could write that down?"

"What, the time? Depends. How much lint is in your pockets?"

"How will that-"

"Just humor the crazy angel."

"Okay..." Cole dug in his pockets and rolled what he found into a pea-sized ball of lint.

"Thank you." Jay covered it with both hands, shook it, and held out a slip of paper that looked like it was from a fortune cookie. Cole took the paper from his hand and saw that '12:00 midnight' was printed on it.

"There's more of those dang foreign royalty!" Cole rolled down the window and saw a boy he thought looked familiar. "Yeah, I'm talking about you! Can't the twins find suitors within Ninjago?" It was Kai, a boy he used to play with before his mom died and his life became miserable. Now that he thought about it, the toy truck had been a present from Kai on his 7th birthday. He felt bad as they passed him, but whether it was because an old friend had insulted him or something else, he wasn't sure.

"Look, we're here already. Yo, Mr. Mouse, how fast were you driving?" Jay said as the limo rolled to a stop.

The man turned around and shrugged, smiling. The boys saw that his teeth hadn't made the transformation to a human's and found the effect creepy.

Cole opened the door and stepped out. He felt like everyone's eyes were on him as he walked into the palace and scanned the room. His step-sisters, Sandy and Sophia, were trying to get Prince Lloyd to dance with them, but Lloyd was taking a break to sit down and drink something blue. He continued to look around, and there she was. Princess Liz was alone except for a girl with bright orange hair. Eh, what the heck? He walked over to them. Before he was in earshot, the other girl pointed him out in a bored voice, "Here comes another one."

Liz sighed. She'd danced with lots of guys already out of courtesy, but she still hasn't found who she was looking for. When he came up to her, she knew she recognized those kind brown eyes and thought, 'He cleans up nicely,' but Liz didn't think he recognized her. Cole asked her to dance and she said yes. And minutes turned into hours, one song into twenty, until the clock chimed twelve times.

"It's midnight already!" he gasped, breaking away from the princess.

"That clock's a few minutes fast," Liz told him, but that didn't help Cole too much. He still had only a little bit of time to get away before the princess saw him, before everyone saw him, in his nasty old clothes. He pulled the paper from Jay out of his pocket and reread it, just in case. He dashed out, weaving around the many people. Liz picked up the ends of her black gown and ran after him, shouting, "Wait! Where are you going?! You never even told me your name!"

At some point the paper slipped from his hand, and Liz picked it up. The limo wasn't there when he made it outside, so he continued running back home. The limo had never been all that necessary, since they actually lived pretty close to the palace. That didn't keep him from being out of breath by the time he got there, though, so he went upstairs and collapsed on his bed. After a few minutes he realized for some reason he still had the mask on. He removed it and hid it under the bed.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep when Sophia, the nicer of his step-sisters, came running in at about 3 am. "Cole! Cole! Guess what?!" she shouted, shaking him awake.

He yawned. "What?"

"A mysterious man danced with Princess Liz, but he left at midnight."

"So?"

"He left a piece of paper behind and Liz says she'll marry him if he can tell her what the paper says."

"What's all that got to do with me?"

"I want you to guess at it! He looked kinda like you, and if you're right all of us will be rich, plus you get to marry her. Oh, yeah, you also have to dance with her. Can you dance?"

"I don't know. Never tried," Cole lied.

"Yeah, you have. Remember when we were little? But if you've forgot I can teach you."

Cole tried not to laugh. He'd seen Sophia dance before; it looked like she was trying -and failing somehow- to do the chicken dance. Trying to learn how to dance good from her would be almost impossible.

"Okay," he agreed anyway. Unlike Sandy, Sophia had always tried to be nice to him and he didn't want to hurt her feelings.

Sophia wasn't a very good teacher, and not just because she couldn't dance. Every time Cole messed up she'd get angry and impatient.

"You're hopeless," she'd say.

Finally Cole couldn't take it anymore. "What you're doing, that's not dancing! I'll show you dancing." He changed the song to a slow song and grabbed his step-sister's hand.

"What-" Sophia started.

"Just follow my lead."

And they danced . Every once in a while Sophia would step on Cole's foot, but he didn't say anything. They didn't dance for long, just a few minutes until the song ended.

"Now I get it. You're not good at my dancing because you're good at your dancing," Sophia realized.

That didn't make much sense to Cole, but he didn't mind. At least she wasn't mad.

"Can I go now?"

She nodded, and Cole went upstairs to grab the mask from beneath his bed. It was getting pretty late, so Garmadon was already alseep, as well as Sandy. He carried the mask with him until he reached the palace, where the doors were already closing and the last of the men were leaving.

"12 o'clock midnight, 12 o'clock midnight!" he shouted as he neared the castle hoping the princess could hear him.

"It's nearly 2 A.M. What are you talking about?" one man asked, but Cole ignored him and continued to yell.

Princess Liz heard him and came out just as he reached the steps. "It's finally you!" she threw her arms around him.

"You better put him through all the tests you put me!" the same man as before shouted.

"Fine. What was written on the paper?"

"12 o'clock midnight."

"A few men saw what the paper said before I picked it up, so I've been dancing with them to see if they were as good as you."

Liz took him into the empty ballroom to dance. Afterwards she proclaimed, "I will marry this man! Wait, what's your name?"

"Cole Brookstone."

"I will marry Cole Brookstone!"

"Aren't I suppose to ask you?"

"Go ahead."

Cole got down on his knee and pretended to propose. "Will you, Princess Elisabeth, marry me?"

"Yes, so long as you never call me Elisabeth again."

"Fine, Liz."


End file.
